For the record, I believe Jeph Loeb is another writer-not-from-the-tv-show slated to write for Season 8, which at this rate may never end. Actually, am I imagining things, or did I hear a Season 9 mentioned somewhere?

jam2 | November 10, 15:31 CET

cant wait till tuesday when i get my copy. ooh happy happy.

eth3er | November 10, 15:31 CET

Also, another review for 8x8 at LYS@D, where M.V. gives us his take - Check it out!

BunnyDee | November 10, 15:42 CET

The issue was just ok, it suffered from the usual "it's the middle of the arc" syndrome and it felt like Faith was attacking Buffy for no apparent reason. That bit felt somewhat hollow to me and did not ring true. And Jeanty's artwork was slightly off this issue. Most of the time I like what he's doing with the characters but this time it felt a bit rushed.

However I am intrigued to see who is backing Buffy and co. My outside bet is Wolfram and Hart.

Simon | November 10, 17:29 CET

Actually Jeph Loeb was going to be the showrunner and worked on The Buffy Animated Series that didn't happen.

I really like the issue and thought it was a good set up for next issue's wrap up of this arc.Boy does Buffy look pissed at Giles over what he's been keeping from her.

Buffyfantic | November 10, 18:12 CET

Simon - I had the same thought about Faith tackling Buffy on my first read through, but if you look Roden's got some mojo crackling in the background. I think she was, in fact, saving Buffy.

Darwinfox | November 10, 19:26 CET

And Gigi.

Rang awfully true to me. They started the second issue with Faith remembering her fight with Buffy, and being stabbed by her. That scene wasn't there by accident, it's thematic. From Faith's point of view, she sees the same thing happening again with a slayer she's at least identified, if not bonded with. She sees a girl, a savable girl, who's just like her in many ways, with a "want-take-have" bravado masking loneliness, and an adviser she trusts misleading her badly.

But not only are the Mayor and Roden in her mind with regards to Gigi, she now thinks Giles was doing the same thing to her. For Buffy. So her Buffy issues are front and center when Roden teleports Buffy there.

She may have seen what Roden was up to, since he was up in the balcony, where she was, when he started to cast the spell. If so, that's added motivation to stop the fight because she doesn't want either one of them to die, but she was stopping Buffy regardless.

It's even possible that one of her motives was saving Buffy from her own worst instincts by stopping her from killing a helpless foe. That's actually what I thought on first reading, since we'd just come from a scene where she was mulling the possibility of killing humans. And yes, I know slayers aren't strictly human, but I don't think emotionally, Buffy feels that.

Anyway, a rich ambiguous mix of motives for Faith to have, IMO, so I had no problems with Faith charging Buffy. Thought it was what the arc was leading up to, actually.

[ edited by shambleau on 2007-11-11 03:01 ]

[ edited by shambleau on 2007-11-11 03:13 ]

[ edited by shambleau on 2007-11-11 03:15 ]

shambleau | November 10, 21:00 CET

I don't think Brad Meltzer has written for Buffy before, either.

Quit | November 11, 04:09 CET

You are 100% on the money there, shambleau.

UnpluggedCrazy | November 11, 14:04 CET

I am loving Buffy season 8 so far. It's great to get official answers on where my old friends went in their lives. I hope it goes on for a while, because I really missed having a window on the Buffyverse.

I would, however, pay great sums of money, effort, blood, sweat and tears to have a Buffy movie. I know Sarah has moved on. I know David has moved on. I'm guessing some of the others have found themselves over their roles... but I would work for naught but food and shelter on such a film, doing anything they'd need me to do.

What Gods must I placate to make this occur.

(Oh, and on this latest arc... though, as I said, I'm loving it, BKV did make one slight little error in the first part: A 'fancy dress party' is a costume party, not a formal. Little thing, really... but it bugged me. I've expressed it now, and I shall say no more on the topic.)

IMForeman | November 11, 18:06 CET

To my eyes, it looked like Faith was initially trying to save Buffy from Roden's gathering magic storm (see in the background where's he's getting all sparkly) and maybe also trying to save Gigi from Buffy. I didn't feel like Faith's first instinct was necessarily to hurt Buffy. But when they fell into the pool, well, it became a distrustfest and their richly complicated history burbled up and bam! pow! Things turned nasty. I think that Faith's warring impulses were nicely captured by Vaughan and Jeanty.

I hope Buffy Season 8 goes into a Season 9 and then a Season 10 and so on. I'm in love and I don't want it to stop.

phlebotinin | November 11, 20:08 CET

shambleau; I don't know about how saveable LAdy G. is, but that's as it may be. Good multiple motives analysis.

IMForeman; I'm sure Joss could get a bunch of familiar faces for a Buffyverse movie, if any studio would go for it without the biggest of the big. Even ALyson seems to have no intrinsic objection, altho her time is now limited and her asking price is now high.

I have to wonder how many even among the real f ans would want to see a feature or TV-movie with "Whatever cast Joss could get," tho. I for one would but how many of us are really as committed as we claim? More to the point, how many epople who watched one or both shows would sit thru, oh, for example, Joss Whedon's Spook Squad with AMber, Emma, Danny, Alexis, and Ken Lerner? Or a comedy version set in Vegas with Andy, Tom, and Mercedes?

DaddyCatALSO | November 12, 11:01 CET

Yeah, I don't think she's redeemable, just that Faith does.

On the other hand, I didn't think Faith herself was redeemable after she killed the vulcanologist. She was a completely cold and remorseless killer by then. But in the Buffyverse killing people doesn't mean you can't be saved. Look at Spike, Andrew, Anya, Angel and Willow. It's a more Christian view than most Christians can actually muster.

In fact, redemption in the Buffyverse seems to be getting easier. With Andrew and Willow, just recognizing the monstrosity of what they'd done and feeling horrible about it seems to have been enough punishment. I have trouble with that, but I think there are storytelling reasons why it's happened. How much time do you want to spend and how many characters do you want to have agonizing , brooding and suffering on the long, long path to redemption?

Also, the fantastic nature of BTVS may make it easier for Joss and company to see everything as metaphorical, from the monsters to the murders our main characters have committed. The killings stand in for the more mundane, stupid, horrible things we've all done and regret. We can't take them back, but we can go on to make what restitution we can through our future actions.

Both of those factors may contribute to why characters are able to do terrible things and be saved more and more easily. I could see it happening with both Gigi and Amy actually. Gigi's more vulnerable to simply being killed off though. She's such a new character she can be treated as just a disposable villain. If she weren't being made to have as many vulnerabilities as she does, to show her similarity to Faith, I'd say she was a goner. We'll see.

shambleau | November 12, 12:49 CET

Honestly have to agree on how Faith looked to be back in S-3; I wonder if inretrospect they wish they'd devleoped the plot differently instead of having her kill the professor.

And, well I knwo this isn't Joss 's take but it is mine, but SPike Angel and Anya weren't human when theyw ere doing their killings. And Willow didn't kill anybody who didn't need it ala Paladin or JB Books in The Shootist. So I'm personally less inclined to forgive Andrew than Joss is. (Then again I had high hopes of Jonathan marrying a rehumanized Harmony so it's partly personal *grin.)

DaddyCatALSO | November 12, 19:13 CET

Hm, my first impression on seeing Faith leap into the fray was that she was trying to keep up the charade, ie, as Hope trying to "save" Gigi from Buffy.

We know from previous experience that Buffy wouldn't have killed Gigi. Not knowing about Roden, she would have tried simply to incapacitate her. Buffy's mercy could have been a fatal flaw, since Roden might well have been able to take her out. Faith, however, knows Roden is powerful and has a plan to wipe out Buffy and take over the world (insert evil laugh).

So I think Faith's plan was to pretend to save G from B, then work secretly with B to neutralise G somehow. Unfortunately, Buffy called her by her real name, so, you know - busted!

ohbejoyful | November 12, 22:11 CET